i am going to be setting up a small tank based around the miniature fish of Asia. i was wondering in my search is there any problem putting Carinotetraodon travancoricus with danio margaritatus, sawbwa resplendens, microrasbora rubesescens, dario hysginon, or danio choprae? (danio margaritatus may instead be danio erythromicron depending on availability)

i thought that because the puffer eats an entirely different source of food and the fact that the other 6 species are faster and canoutrun the puffer that they would be compatible. am i right or wrong?

Hi there Donovan.
I can offer you a bit of my experience. I keep a group of 6 C. travancoricus. Not with any of the species you mentioned but with Boraras maculatus, Trichopsis pumila and Otocinclus sp. They all get along extremely well. According to sources on the net, there is supposed to be quite a difference in caracters of single specimen, one more aggressive than the other. I haven’t seen that in my little group and I can’t see why it shouldn’t work. If you buy young specimen of C. travancoricus you should know that they will, as with all puffers, do quite a bit of interspecific fighting during their adolescence, to sort out who’s boss! After that you’ll see them swimming together rather happily most of the time and this is most probably the best time to introduce any additional fish. In my humble opinion it’s important though to structure the tank with loads of branches, roots and what have you.
As far as the different food source is concerned, that is not quite correct! C. travancoricus will eat exactly the same as all others as long as it is live or frozen (they won’t touch any processed or even freeze dried) and additionally they’ll go for snails. However, I am led to believe that the importance of feeding them snails for the reason of keeping their teeth from overgrowing is somewhat exaggerated and would like to quickly elaborate on that point.
Of course I startend breeding snails when I decided to keep dwarf puffers, namely Physas (Physella sp.) and Ramshorns (Planorbarius corneus). These I chuck into the puffer tank regularly and the bottom becomes litterd with shells after a few weeks. None of the removed shells ( a couple of hundreds so far) had even the slightest tooth mark on it, leave alone any sign of crushing, no matter how large the snail was.
My puffers bite into the exposed foot of the moving snail repeatedly and thus get it out of the shell.
This is of course NOT to say ‘don’t feed your puffers snails’ nor ‘snails are not important for the wellbeing of your puffer’, it’s just saying: “if the puffer doesn’t bite into the shell, snails cannot be essential to keep his teeth in shape. I’ve got my C. travancoricus now for more than a year and they show no signs of overgrown teeth whatsoever. (discussion welcome)
By the way, if you really think that any of the mentioned fish can outrun the little puffer, think again. Obviously you’ve never seen one of them move when he wants to get somerwhere fast!? Or when he’s going after prey for that matter. A brillant example of cunning deception, … a pea on speed!!!
Hope this is of help.
Regards
R.

i was basing the outrunning on the mbu puffers i have seen which barely moves at all i was unaware that these little ones could go at that speed. and about the tank size, it is the community that is small the tank is going to be a 55 gal but the largest fish is in the community according to my sources is only 3 cm long. all of the fish live close by to each other and so i am creating a biotope with them.

Hi donovan.
I certainly don’t want to come across as a ‘knowitall’ nor do I want to criticize. But calling Kachin State northern Myanmar and Kerala State southern India “close by”, I find rather optimistic.
It will be interesting to see how you realize that idea of yours in a tank as big as 200+ liters. I hope you keep us updated with plenty of photos and info. I would be most interested.

they are in different nations and are many miles apart but from what i have read they live in similar environment. and i will be posting photos. the only situation i am finding right at the moment is that there is no one who sells any of these fish except d. margaritatus and c. travancoricus!!!!!

You might get away with keeping dwarf puffers with those other fish – or you might not. I tried keeping some years ago with otos and corydoras, and soon had a bunch of catfish with half their fins missing. It isn’t something I would try again, and I think the puffers are enough fun on their own to warrant a species tank.

Personally, I’d leave them out or get them their own tank. My big tank currently has D. erythromicron, S. resplendens, Yunnanilus sp. ‘Rosy’ and Dario hysginon in and it’s a really lovely combination. I wouldn’t worry about cramming too many more species in there.

ok thanks i might not include them but i am not sure. all i do have for sure is the other species are set but it seems that there are mixed feelings about the puffer. from what i am seeing it seems to be a gamble with the puffers. some are said to be peaceful others are not. i need to think about this.

i am sorry i not have posted for so long, the tank will be a no go until i build up sufficient funding again. the money that was going to that tank is instead going to the hyper-aggressive pearl gouramis that seem fond of killing tiger barbs at the moment. i will eventually get this tank set up. i did decide against the puffers however and i still have my notebook of ideas. happy holidays.